Updated 05/16/2007
NP Public Relations
Specialty Designation and State Board Issues
ACNP Legislative Update
AANP Legislative Update
AzNA Legislative Update
Open Forum
Many ask, "How can I help?" We
all have busy careers and families that we are juggling in order to make
a better life for ourselves. Because of this, we need to be smart in the
way we utilize our resources. To best use our talents, we have to know
what type of skills are available. If you are interested in volunteering
time in a variety of ways, please
download our NP Involvement Questionaire by clicking here (.pdf).
You may also click
here to get the form in MS Word Format. Another way to be involved
is to come to the meetings!! If you live over 50 miles from the meeting
location, email me to discuss telecommunications possibilities at ewidemark@earthlink.net.
Please join us at our next meeting!
Arizona Nurse Practitioner Council Meeting Minutes
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Summary available soon
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Public Relations Committee Report:
Linda Arters of Arters Public Relations presented her 2007 Marketing
Communications Public Relations Plan and Recommendations for the Council.
It will consist of 4 major publicity campaigns related to health issues
and not so much on the role of the NP. The fifth arm of the plan involves
a major event campaign aimed to coincide with NP week. This particular
aspect of the overall plan needs to commence in April and be ready by
August to begin pitching it to the various media. Linda invites all NPs to
let her know anytime any of us are invited to speak at or participate in
some event. Her agency would be responsible for capitalizing on our
community involvement with publicity.
Linda then reviewed the monetary commitment for retaining Arters Public
Relations and she then presented various printing estimates.
Volunteers to serve on a new Public Relations sub-committee of the Council
were then called for. Erich, Patti, Denise, Angie, Agi and Nicole then
agreed to serve on this sub-committee and to meet on Monday, 1/22/07 at
7:30pm for the purpose of planning strategy prior to NP Lobby Day.
Moved, seconded, and passed to accept Linda Arters’ 2007 Marketing
Communications Public Relations Plan and the fees as set forth, to be paid
in quarterly installments.
Membership Chair Report:
Erich announced that Kathy LuPone resigned from
Membership Chair and that Nicole had accepted the Council’s request to
take over those responsibilities.
Nicole then presented her draft of a “Welcome Letter” which would be sent
to all new NP members to AzNA. (See Attached). This was recommended by
Sandy Thompson, membership director of AzNA, at our last Council meeting
so that new NP members to AzNA would learn that they can be members of
Chapter 9 regardless of what their zip code might be. It was then
discussed how dual chapter membership is possible.
It was also decided to have AzNA membership applications available at all
schools that have NP programs.
Elections: Lupe Woodson was unanimously re-elected as Treasurer for
another 2 year term. The only position that will still need to be filled
in the fall will be President.
Insurance Empanelment/Reimbursement Report:
Nicole reported that she has some volunteers who
will get together to compile a set of objectives prior to actually
tackling this project.
Results of the Salary Survey will be available through the “members only”
page of our new website.
Legislative Update:
Patti reported that SB1100, the "clean up bill"
has passed through the Senate Health Committee. The bill’s purpose was to
change the language in approximately 45-50 areas from physicians to nurse
practitioners and physicians. Physician Assistants as a term was not
included. This bill, however, does not intend to apply to Worker’s
Compensation laws as it needs to be crafted a bit more carefully with NP
experts in Worker’s Compensation and Occupation Health providing input.
Denise suggested that each NP program have a student delegate to whom
Patti, as Legislative Chair, would communicate so that students know a bit
more about NP issues when they graduate.
Denise also let the Council know that a doctoral student will be working
with January Contreras regarding access to care. More information about
her work will be forthcoming.
There is a new bill in the Federal Senate Committee on Finance, #S59
Medicaid, to amend Title 19 of the Social Security Act to improve patient
access to advanced practice nurses and PAs.
Relationship with the BON from a professional organization standpoint:
Angie brought up her concerns that NP relationships’ with the BON is
getting antagonistic. Ken suggested inviting a representative of the BON
to the Council meetings. Denise volunteered to extend the invitation when
she attends the next BON meeting.
AANP Report:
The AANP National Conference will be June 20-24,
2007 in Indianapolis. Two Council members will have there ways paid for.
Patti requested the opportunity to go as she was unable to take advantage
of it last year and Erich requested the opportunity to go also. It was
unanimously approved to have Patti and Erich represent our Chapter this
summer.
Since NP Week always occurs during November election week, Agi suggested
that Karen and Angie perhaps present this conflict at the national level
in order to change the traditional week.
ACNP Report:
Denise will be going to the Policy Summit as our
representative. The ACNP Clinical Conference will be in October, in San
Antonio.
July Conference:
The Conference Committee will be deciding where
to hold the conference based on some responses already received from a few
hotels. Once that is done, they will begin confirming speakers. Carolyn
Buppert may accept our invitation to be the Saturday morning keynote
speaker and maybe also Saturday night at dinner to host a Q&A. Margaret
Fitzgerald is thinking about doing a review course again.
New Business: Angie announced that she had an item in the Advisory
Column in Clinical Advisor, December, 2006.
The next meeting will be the third Saturday of April, same time.
November 18, 2006
Legislative Update
Denise introduced Sheri Gallagher, Clinical
Quality Specialist of the Health Services Advisory Group. Sheri then
discussed her role of overseeing the Culture Matters Program which is a
mandated program that is part of Medicare Quality Improvement. She will be
working with PCPs across the state to pre-assess their understanding of
cultural diversity based on 14 Standards of Practice. She provides
resources for PCPs to become compliant with government recommendations
which will soon become mandated. She also will provide on-site support to
implement new practices in order to comply with these mandates. Her reason
for being at our meeting is to propose a partnership with our council and
Nurse Practitioners of Arizona. Through this partnership NPs will be
invited to participate in workshops which will earn CEs. The various sites
of NP practice will then be encouraged to participate in the Culture
Matters initiative to share data with HSAG and to adopt and implement the
14 Standards.
Patti reported that NP Lobby Day is February 6, 2007 and Legislative Day
is March 30, 2007. Arizona NPs should attend and CAZNAP has offered to pay
their registration fees as long as they are members of AzNA. It was
moved/seconded/passed that CAZNAP would support 10 NPs and 20 NP students
(regardless of AzNA membership or not). Students are encouraged to attend
the Legislative Day as it provides more of the educational approach to the
legislative process and NPs are encouraged to participate in the Lobby
Day.
Denise recommended CAZNAP write a letter to Ann Winter of United
Healthcare
Denise reported on the Governor’s Task Force on Access to Emergency Services which addressed the overcrowding in the state’s ERs. Their final submitted proposal to the Governor included the recommendation to get NPs empaneled by insurance companies. Everyone agree that this was a major coup and that January Contreras’ support (an aide to the Governor) of NPs played a large part in this successful proposal.
Insurance Empanelment/Reimbursement:
Thom Denhalter has finished collected the salary
survey data and is working with a statistician to collate it all. A total
of 386 valid responses were received which is 11% of the 3,372 (according
to 2006 data) NPs in Arizona.
Nicole recommended that we need an empanelment survey, not just a salary
survey. Nicole will create an ad hoc committee to create an RFP; she will
have more details for the next Council meeting.
Elections:
Erich announced the newly elected positions. Agi as Secretary, Patti
as Legislative Chair, and Denise as Vice-President. The next election for
the offices of President, Treasurer and Membership Chair will be after the
July 2007 Symposium. Agi will consult the By-laws for the correct start
date of the new term of office.
ACNP:
The next conference is in Washington D.C. on
February 25-27, 2007 and the Public Policy for the Institute of Health
will also be in Washington, D.C. on March 3-9, 2007. ACNP elections are
still open on the ACNP website; votes need to be casted by 11/27/06. New
representatives who will be advancing the ACNP agenda in Washington D.C.
are Gardner Carter Douglas, Robert Walters, and Ilsa Paul. These
representatives recently attended an AMA Conference where resolutions 902
and 904 were being discussed. 902 had to do with supervision and 904 had
to do with diagnosing. Initially the representatives were not allowed to
speak but after objections were made Ilsa was allowed to make a
presentation. Because of this, the resolutions were sent back to the AMA
for further review.
AANP:
The AANP is focusing on the role of the NP in
retail clinics; to get rid of protocols and advertisements that imply that
the only thing NPs do is work in these retail clinics. In short, a goal of
AANP is to work on more appropriate media exposures.
She also reported that 2 NFL teams will be airing the new public service
announcement that was recently put out by AANP.
Nominations for the AzNP Award for Excellence and Advocacy have been
announced.
Advertising Committee:
It was recommended that the committee be renamed Public Relations Committee as “advertising” actually denotes monetary expenses for ads in various media. Linda provided an update of strategic overview including corporate identification with a logo for letterhead and business cards and to create an internet presence with a new website. Also the plan to make us media savvy which would take identifying individual NPs who are experts in their various settings, both urban and rural, etc.
Linda went on to say that the original goals have
been met and the Council needs to consider phase two. We need to consider
how much we can spend, what 3 or 4 events throughout the year will be
focused on with intense planning and intense marketing. We need to
identify who the key NPs will be in order to move from a “grass-roots”
approach to a more coordinated blitz-like campaign. She suggested the PR
committee regroup itself to include representative NPs from Phoenix,
Flagstaff, Tucson, the rural areas, and the executive committee.
With regard to the website she recommends additional features to include
blogging capabilities, instant messaging, educational pages for the
consumer, and revenue raising features such as banner ads. She would like
to solicit Patient testimonials with pictures.
Nicole recommended partnering with national NP
organizations that have larger budgets or national companies such as
Johnson & Johnson. She also recommended we consider advertisements on the
website which should easily generate the maintenance charges.
Linda recommended that because of the upcoming Holidays we “take a break”
but renew marketing efforts after January 1, 2007. She will focus her
efforts on making the website self-sustaining and investigating grass
roots options that more affordable. She will structure a list of NPs and
update the overall PR plan and have it available for the exec committee
within 2 weeks.
Letterhead stationary and business cards will soon be available and will
include general contact info. Including exec committee names would be
unreasonable as the slate changes annually. Note cards will also be
printed up. Their will be a market page set up on the website where NPs or
the public could purchase items with the new logo.
Board of Nursing:
The Summit meeting of the State BON was very well attended. Angie’s
summary was posted on the CAZNAP Listserve.
July Symposium:
Erich spoke then about next July’s Symposium. AzNA has again agreed to co-sponsor 50/50. He already has a few speakers lined up. The date will be July 27-29, 2007. Margaret Fitzgerald is interested in doing another review class and we may be able to invite Carolyn Buppert as a keynote speaker. Denise suggested that since it is now a regional conference (Southern California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah) that we consider a more temperate climate. Volunteers for the Symposium committee are Denise, Patti, Angie, Agi, Erich, and Karen
AzNA:
Sandy Thompson who is
membership director of AzNA said she is visiting all the chapters. Her job
is to help each chapter maintain membership as well as get new members.
She also noted that an NP should consider running for membership on the
AzNA Board. She reminded us the current executive director, Pat Rhen, is
leaving. A new executive director has not yet been chosen. Erich asked
Sandy to provide job descriptions for the individual officers of our
CAZNAP exec committee. Sandy also suggested that our Legislative Chair
participate on the Public Policy Committee of AzNA. She will make sure
that Patti gets updates. New NP members to AzNA need to get a welcome
letter from CAZNAP to help them know they can be members of Chapter 9
regardless of what their zip code might be.
New Business:
Motion passed for Lupe to hire and accountant to clarify the IRS issues of our non-profit status (501C) as well as to help determine how to disburse the Symposium profits into our various accounts.
Motion passed to have the credit card attached to the executive positions of President, Vice-President and Treasurer so that the names do not need to be changed with each election of that office.
The next meetings of the Council for 2007 will be January 20, April 21, July 29, and October 20.
NOTE: full minutes are available upon request
July 30, 2006
Legislative Update:
Angie reviewed currently active bills and also suggested everyone watch the video clip of the Surgeon General on the AANP website
Denise Link is now on the AzBON
NPI:
All NPs must have a NPI by 5/07 in order to bill electronically
DNP:
Arizona Board of Nursing:
Scope of Practice Summit is being held September 29th, 2006
New Business:
Nominations: Patti urged anyone interested to run for the offices of Vice President, Secretary, or Legislative Chair
Website: Erich gave a report of the progress of the website which is being worked on.
Media Training: Linda Arters reviewed the information collected during the media training seminars and feels she has some great starting points for brainstorming. NPs are experts in their field and the media needs to be aware of them
Angie encouraged ALL NPs to go through the Death Certificate signing certification process. We need to prove to the BON that there is a need
The next meeting will be October 21, 2006
Elections:
Currently. Erich has been nominated for President, Patti Struck
has been nominated for Legislative Chair and there is no nomination for
Secretary.
fChris Shelley has resigned as Vice President. Denise Link has volunteered
to step in as Vice President, however prefers not to take over the
responsibility for planning this year’s conference.
Insurance Empanelment/Reimbursement
AHCCCS: Denise sent a letter to AHCCCS and heard back
from them in February, however, no decision has been made by them re:
adding NP’s as PCPs. These issues were discussed with Ann Winter, the
Policy Advisor for Health and Human Services. She seemed in discussing
this further and taking it back to the governor
Salary Survey
It was suggested the name should be changed to a Practice Survey.
Also, the pros and cons of using electronic surveys vs. paper surveys was
discussed. It was decided that e-surveys are the best option.
Legislative update
Nurse Practitioner Lobby Day was felt to be successful with 23
people in attendance. Possible changes for next year were discussed
and Angie volunteered to participate on the planning committee for next
year.
Advertising Committee
Linda Arters developed a FAQ for the legislators on Lobby Day which
was well received A new series of logo designs as well as slogan
ideas are in the process of being developed.
There is a draft layout in the works for our new website, which is in the
process of being reviewed for content. There will be advertising banners
to help defray the cost. Erich will email the cost breakdown to the npexec
list.
The recommendation was made that NPs not be called "a new profession".
ACNP Update
The keynote speaker at the Annual Policy Summit meeting was William
Rogers, MD, the medical Director Office of the Administrator, CMS. He
encouraged NPs to continue to communicate with CMS and participate in CMS
Open Door conference calls
Reimbursement reports from state affiliates shared common experiences and
successes. ANCP is creating a clearing house of reimbursement/empanelment
information/summaries on their website that will be accessible to
affiliate members.
Risk Management – the NP Claims Data study were reported, documenting that
claims against NPs are on the increase, partly due to an increase in the
numbers of NPs but also increasing in proportion to total numbers of
providers. ACNP is assembling a state-to-state risk
management/professional liability report.
Denise provided a link for the Kohler Legislative Award, Sharp Cutting
Edge Award, and student scholarships, for which nominations are open. The
link is:
http://www.nurse.org/acnp/facts/about.shtml
AANP
AANP is deciding how to respond to the vision statement.
The AANP National Conference is being held in June. There are two open
slots for members to attend for free.
Georgia NPs recently received prescriptive privileges
Board of Nursing
Vision Statement: Two NAU faculty attended the last BON meeting
where an intense discussion of the vision statement was held.
Advanced Practice Committee:
The meeting was tentatively rescheduled for May
5th but this date not confirmed.
BON Appointment: It was confirmed that we will support Angie to apply for
a BON appointment, whenever a position becomes available.
July Conference
The next planning meeting will be Wednesday, April 12th via conference
call
The two dinner sponsors have been obtained. Erich
is dialoging with Eli Lily to sponsor the Saturday lunch meal.
Save the date postcards will be sent out next week.
New Business
Denise brought up that there are
‘physicians of the week’ sponsored by ARMA for the legislators and
suggested we negotiate to have alternating weeks with NPs to provide
medical care.
It was decided to try Web Casting one of the conference planning meetings
and if successful, then to Web Cast the October NP Council meeting.
The next NP Council meeting in October is on the 21st, which is during the
ACNP National Clinical Conference. It was decided to change the date to
October 28th (will request an official vote via email).
Elections:
Currently Chris Shelley has been nominated for Vice President, Patti
Struck has been nominated for Legislative Chair, and there is no
nomination for Secretary.
Insurance Empanelment/Reimbursement:
The information AHCCCS requested has been sent to them. We have
not heard back from them yet. The format of the salary survey was
discussed.
AANP:
a. Karen put together AZ NP statistics and posted it to the CAZNAP list.
They will also be published on the Chapter 9 website once it is up and
running. There was a discussion of the Awards of Excellence for NP and NP
Advocate - application on the AANP website (applcations were due the
Monday after the meeting). AANP and ACNP are both working with the
legislature trying to get the language changed for Medicare Part A
ACNP:
There will be a Public Policy Institute on February 12-16 prior to the
ACNP summit, which will be held February 17-20 in Washington, DC
A motion was made, seconded and approved that the NP council will provide
reinbursement for Angie to attend both the Public Policy Institute and the
ACNP Summit.
Legislative Update
There are currently 22 bills the AzNA is reviewing. They can be found on
the ALIS site. Angie also has a list of the bills.
The following dates were announced:
a. Nurse Practitioner Lobby Day - March 30, 2006
b. The AzNA Legislative Day - February 24, 2006
c. The AzNA Lobby Day - March 23, 2006
.
Advanced Practice Committee/BON:
There was a large discussion at the previous meeting in September
regarding NP scope of practice. Unfortunately, the meeting minutes were
never published on the BON website, otherwise many questions might have
already been answered for NPs. The APC is planning a Day of Education in
September to help clarify some of these issues. They are gathering NP
experts to address concerns. The keynote speaker will be Tracy Klein.
The BON wants to see formal education, which included didactic and
clinical components, to support NP’s being trained in new skills. Denise
submitted a proposal to Pam Randolph regarding the development of a
template that can be used to document ongoing education. It was felt that
AzNA should be the organization of oversee any type of educational
programs, rather than the BON. The concern seems to be with employers
knowing whether or not they can hire an NP based on certification (e.g.,
can a hospital hire an FNP or must it be an ACNP).
Angie will submit her application to the BON when
a new position is posted. Appointments will go to the Governor in April.
Erich offered a letter sample for NP’s to send to the Governor in support
of Angie’s appointment.
It was confirmed that the term ‘collaboration’ was still in the statutes
in ARS-321606. Angie emphasized that it would take at least 30-40 people
dedicated to changing this statute for it to go through. Denise expressed
a concern about opening up the statutes, because that would mean all
statutes could be looked at and potentially changed to our detriment,
rather than to our advantage.
Advertising Committee:
There was a discussion of the proposed Media Day. Also an article
by Jodie Snyder of the AZ Republic for which she interviewed several
members was discussed. This article appeared in the paper on Tues
January 17, 2006. NPs can contact Linda Arters for coaching if they
have any media opportunities. The Continence Center of America has offered
to provide a call-in line for anyone who has questions or wants more
information on nurse practitioners.
July Conference update:
Discussion topics included a larger hotel at which to hold the conference
and whether it should be a regional conference.. Members of the committee
include Denise, Angie, Patti and Jacqueline (nominated by Denise). Keynote
speaker will be Margaret Fitzgerald
New Business:
Denise attended the AzNA biannual Conference. An action proposal was
approved to support NP empanelment
The National Certifying Organization has stated that 2006 will be the last
year to sit for their WHNP Certification both for those WHNPs who do not
have an MSN and for those with MSNs obtained prior to 2004.
There was a discussion about the development of refresher courses for NPs
returning to the workforce. The BON APC has also developed a subcommittee
to explore the need for this.
It was decided to change the next NP Council meeting to April 8th, the day
after the next BON APC meeting, in case there are folk from out of town
who would like to attend both meetings
Information pending
Introductions
Elections
Insurance Empanelment/Reimbursement
AANP
ACNP
Legislative
Update
Advanced Practice Committee
Advertising Committee
Introductions:
Board of Directors were introduced, followed by Patt Rehn, the new AzNA
liaison, and Debby Wood who helped plan and implement the annual conference
Elections:
A call for nominations was made. Currently Erich has been nominated to
run a second term as president, Lupe has been nominated to continue as
Treasurer, and Kathleen LuPone volunteered to run for Membership Director
Insurance Empanelment/Reimbursement:
Agi continues to work with Healthnet and United/Aetna. Even though the
CEO of United said he would listen to employer groups who wanted NP’s
to treat their employees, this has not occurred: the employer groups were
told that NP’s would be empaneled in rural areas; however, they are still
not being allowed to apply for same. A new federal bill which will include
NP’s as Medicaid providers to improve patients’ access to health care
might bring about change but letters need to be written to government
officials encouraging Arizona to adapt this law at a state level. Denise
Link states an action proposal will be presented to ANA asking them to
support/facilitate nurse practitioners in their struggle to gain empanelment
AANP:
Karen Holder is working on gathering statistics on nurse practitioners
in specialty areas. They are planning a media blitz during Nurse Practitioner
Week
ACNP:
Four teams have been created to deal with four major issues, including:
Empanelment/Reimbursement; Medicare; Malpractice; Legislation
Legislative Update:
Angie asked for volunteers to help her write an agenda item to present
to the AzNA
.
Advanced Practice Committee:
The issue of subspecialties and crossing over between specialties continues
to go on without resolution. At this point in time the BON appears to
be stepping back and not telling people they can or cannot work somewhere,
but there remains no solution to the issues. A think tank meeting is in
the process of being planned around the regional AANP meeting in September,
with the goal of writing a white paper on scope of practice. This is a
national issue, not just specific to Arizona
Advertising Committee:
Linda Arters has been working with us regarding promotion of the NP and
will be revamping the website. We are currently working on a contract
to make her work with us official
The meeting was an informative a productive experience to all of us who attended. Here is a summary of the events with a hyperlinked contents section:
John C Lincoln Sleep Disorders
Center
Upcoming Nurse Practitioner Council Elections
Reimbursement, Empanelment, and Future Employment
Nurse Practitioner Specific Local Legislative Update
Arizona Nurse Practitioner Advertising Campaign
Upcoming Nurse Practitioner documentary
Conference Update
ACNP Update
AANP Update
Salary Survey
By-Laws
John C Lincoln Sleep Disorders Center
Dr. Tatmen from John C Lincoln Sleep
Disorders Center gave a 30 minute presentation regarding sleep disorders.
This covered the services they had to offer and the process by which one
would refer patients for their services. The John C Lincoln Breast Center
was also covered, including new and improved patient care of women undergoing
mammograms which includes on-site counseling a rapid follow-up when needed.
They furnished breakfast.
Upcoming Nurse Practitioner Council Elections
Elections are coming up for the office of President, Treasurer, and Membership
chair. Erich Widemark was nominated for President, Lupe Woodsen was nominated
for Treasurer, and Kathleen Lupone was nominated for Membership Chair.
There is a call for nominations for anyone who is interested in running
for these positions. Please email your interest to Patti
Struck, the current Nurse Practitioner Council Secretary.
Reimbursement, Empanelment, and Future
Employment
There is ongoing open dialogue with several insurance companies regarding
the possibility of empanelment. We continue to forge ahead at a slow pace
with the hopes of someday breaking through. Some insurance companies have
showed signs of interest for the possibility of future empanelment. Mediminute
has approached several Nurse Practitioner members for possible discussion
regarding NP utilization in their business plans as well. This may likely
be impacted or may impact future empanelment situations as well. Discussion
continues.
Nurse Practitioner Specific Local Legislative
Update
Changes to Article IV and V have completed the long process of change
and will soon be made part of the final rules. This is expected to happen
in June.
The other issue with involvement in the Advanced Practice Committee is scope of practice and depth of practice discussion with the State Board of Nursing. Much of this has been discussed on CAZNAP as well as other areas. Many of these issues stem from National Certification problems and is also current a subject being discussed at the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty conference in Chicago this week. Further discussion will take place on September 9th, 2005 at a place to be disclosed later. Perhaps agreement from the NP community in following national recommendations and guidelines will clear this issue up.
Arizona Nurse Practitioner Advertising
Campaign
Advertising has been recognized as an important part of enhancing future
nurse practitioner practice in Arizona. Much work has been done to plan
future advertising for our Arizona chapter. With our new Advertising Consultants,
we are arranging a Nurse Practitioner Advertising summit to be planned
sometime in May or June at a central location. This will look at the development
of an advertising campaign for our group. Further interested parties,
please email me at ewidemark@earthlink.net.
Upcoming Nurse Practitioner documentary
Stacy Winchell is finalizing agreements with other parties for the production
of a Nurse Practitioner Documentary. This will make a positive impact
for Nurse Practitioners. Stacy, an experienced Nurse Practitioner in California
shares a passion with the rest of us in seeing Nurse Practitioners becoming
successful and independent in delivering care across the United States.
Part of this process is educating the public regarding what we can do.
There are several national organizations that have voices support for
the production of this film. Look for future announcements and an opportunity
to help financially and otherwise with the creative process. This is truly
an exciting opportunity for us all!
Conference Update
The conference planning is going well. We are looking for more pediatric
and women’s health education opportunities to be offered. We are finalizing
negotiations with many different nurse practitioner supportive companies.
We hope this to be a very successful year!! Plan for July 29, 30, and
31st 2005 Nurse Practitioner Council Conference here in the Phoenix Metropolitan
area.
ACNP Update
The annual summit met in Washington in February and has developed their
agenda for the coming year. This information is online at the ACNP
website at http://www.nurse.org/acnp/index.shtml
AANP Update
Karen Holder has replaced Ken Wysocki as AANP representative. She states
the AANP agenda is quite similar to that of ACNP. Their annual conference
is June 17th – 23rd. For further information, check the AANP
website at http://www.aanp.org/
Salary Survey
Salary Survey is still in progress. There is a tool the has been used
with the Northern Arizona Group which will be reviewed by the board for
potential data collection within the next several months.
By-Laws
New by-laws have been passed. A copy was printed in the last newsletter.
If you would like a copy, and are an AzNA Chapter 9 member, please email
me.
Thanks to everyone for a successful meeting. The next meeting will be at the tail end of the conference on July 31, 2005 at around 12pm.
Erich
Widemark, NP
President, Arizona Nurse Practitioner Council Chapter 9
Elections: The outcome of this year’s elections was announced. Chris Shelley is the new Vice President. Angie Golden is serving a second term as Legislative Chair. Patti Struck is serving a second term as Secretary.
Upcoming Elected Positions: It was agreed that we should begin asking for nominations now so that people will start considering running for office. We will not be able to officially announce elections until the revised By-Laws have been passed and a new election date has been set.
By-Laws: Tyke By-Laws be sent out with the next newsletter and be voted on at the next NP Council meeting April 16th.
State and National Certification/Advanced Practice Committee: The Advanced Practice Committee of the BON met last Friday and discussed the issue of whether or not an FNP could practice in psychiatry, cardiology, in the hospital, etc. The message they gave was that as long as the FNP can document appropriate training/clinical hours they can work in these settings. It is not the setting (e.g. hospital, Value Options, etc) that is in question, but the training of the NP. An FNP can work at Value Options and prescribe psych meds as this is also within the scope of practice of the FNP, however if he/she feels the patient required psychotherapy, a referral will be made to the appropriate psychiatrist.
AANP Update: Ken will be resigning as state representative in June when he heads for New Zealand and encouraged anyone interested to volunteer to take over the role.
ACNP Update: No ACNP update was available.
Salary Survey: In process.
Conference Info: Upcoming conference was discussed.
Arizona NP Council Chapter 9 Meeting
Hospice Update
New Treasurer
Bylaws Status
Continuing Education
Advertising
Upcoming Rules Changes
Urgent Care
NP Council Conference Update
ACNP Update
AANP Update
Salary Survey
Insurance Reimbursement
--------------------------------------------
It was another exciting Arizona Nurse Practitioner
Council Meeting! For those who were unable to make it, here are a few
tidbits of what was discussed:
Hospice
and Medicare Part A Changes
Nancy Turner, RN, MS gave a presentation on Hospice services. Being involved
with Hospice since inception of the benefit program in the 1980s, she
impressed us with her knowledge of Medicare regulations. She briefly discussed
how hospice benefits are dispersed including eligibility criteria. She
then addressed the newest rule changes which allow Nurse Practitioners
to act as attending physicians in hospice. She added that there are only
three things that NPs may not do; a limitation of Medicare Part A. These
include certifying a patient for hospice, and recertifying them every
60 days as required. Furthermore NPs cannot take the place of a physician
at utilization review meetings.
She was quick to point out that for all new hospice patients referred by independent practice NPs, the medical directors can assume the needed role. She added that this is a routine matter that should not become a barrier to NPs.
Finally, for anyone interested, she mentioned that they were actively recruiting for NPs to work with Hospice Family Care. She feels that NPs will be an integral and extremely important part of the future of hospice services. Jonilynn Etzler, RN was also present and furnished breakfast thanks to Hospice Family Care.
New Treasurer!
Unfortunately Jean Feeley, our previous treasurer, was unable to complete
the commitment requirements. A new treasurer was appointed. Lupe Woodsen
will be fulfilling this duty. The Council is appreciative to her for her
dedication!
By-Laws
The AzNA Bylaws committee had made suggested changes to our draft of the
new bylaws. These will be modified and the executive committee, upon approval,
will initiate a mailing to all AzNA Chapter 9 members which will include
the proposed bylaw changes. Provided everything goes smoothly, we should
be able to vote on it at the next meeting, January 15th, 2005.
Continuing
Education
In the spirit of the NP Councils mission to offer educational opportunities
to Arizona’s Nurse Practitioners, a plan was proposed and approved to
offer continuing education on a monthly basis for 2005. This will include
some rural area programs that will be offered on a quarterly basis. With
Angie Golden’s help obtaining CE credentialing, and Ken Wysocki’s suggestions
regarding arrangement of audio visual equipment for travel, our goal is
to obtain various speaker opportunities across the state.
Because of the expense of obtaining CE, and other potential incidentals, including meals, it was agreed upon that while this will be a free benefit to AzNA members, non-AzNA members will be charged a nominal fee of $10 for each CE opportunity. Still a bargain, or even better, a good reason to join AzNA for 2005!!!
The meetings will be titled Dine and Discuss. Look for further information coming soon to www.arizonanp.com!
Advertising
Nurse Practitioner Week is November 7th through 13th, 2004, and Agi Oblas
has been hard at work arranging events. AzNA NP Council will be hosting
a meal and educational opportunity every day of that week, most of them
dinner events. In addition, Judy Celik is offering a beginner and advanced
suture workshop, and Agi Oblas will have a breakfast meeting with a presentation
on starting a practice. These will all include continuing education credit.
Other speakers will include Sharon Hernly, Jean Stanley, Judith Newell,
Jodi Pelusi, Agi Oblas, Jennel Johnson, and Tracy King.
Angie Golden will try to utilize her sources at National Public Radio to get interview time during NP week. Additionally, Agi Oblas will be sending a press release/PSA to local news organizations. We all agreed to budget $15,000 for statewide advertising to further promote Nurse Practitioners in the state of Arizona. This will include the $5000 already put aside for advertising. Agi Oblas and Ken Wysocki will work with Alicia Wadas, our advertising consultant, to identify how best to distribute the monies for successful exposure.
Other events in advertising include a proposal originally introduced by me. This proposal suggests a plan of advertising which would target local newspapers and would include NPs advertising their own practices. This would be subsidized by the NP Council with the remaining cost split between the co-advertisers. Much of the discussion surrounded the criteria for allowing an NP to obtain these subsidies. Some of these issues included whether to let a non-member participate, and how to select the NPs that would be eligible, as many NPs who are employed with practices are also interested in advertising. Further refinement is expected in the coming months for discussion in January.
Upcoming Rules Changes
Marla Weston, Executive Director of AzNA explained that while the state
statute still contains the word ‘collaboration’ the rules have been rewritten
to eliminate the word. These changes have gone through all the appropriate
committees and will be presented in a public meeting December 10th. Even
though the statute uses the word ‘collaboration’ it is up to the State
Board of Nursing to determine when collaboration is required. This is
clarified in the proposed changes and should not impact NP practice in
any way.
Urgent Care
The Department of Health is currently writing rules related to Urgent
Care centers. Sue Collins is on this committee and will sit as the AzNA
representative. Agi Oblas volunteered to also sit on the committee so
that NP’s would have more representation. Some concerns include urgent
care owners who want to say that any clinic that accepts walk-ins is an
Urgent Care center. This would mean any office would be required to meet
Urgent Care criteria, or send these walk-ins away to an Urgent Care center.
We will carefully be looking at potential issues that may arise in this
forum.
2005 NP Council
Conference
The previous conference was a wide success. The upcoming conference was
discussed including some contractual details with AzNA. The upcoming conference
date will be July 29, 30, and 31st, 2005. Although many wanted a return
to the same location, we agreed to do some shopping. The good far outweighed
the bad at the last conference, and hopefully the next one will continue
to be successful. We were able to raise enough money to support our continual
statewide efforts at promoting Nurse Practitioners.
ACNP Update:
There is a conference on December 2nd sponsored by the Center for Nursing
Advocacy at ASU. Angie Golden moved to provide $150 to support this meeting,
and this was unanimously passed.
AANP Update
Ken Wysocki mentioned the congressional resolution passed by the U.S.
House of Representatives celebrating National Nurse Practitioner week.
He encouraged NP’s to send letters of thanks to their House Representatives.
He continues to work on a proclamation by our own Governor.
Faxes, E-mails and calls to your Senators and Representatives are needed to ask for reinstatement of the cuts made by the Congress in the 2003 in the 2004 Appropriations for Advanced Practice Nursing Educational Programs and Traineeships. It is particularly important that members of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees be contacted. Information can be found on the AANP website.
Salary Survey
Cathy Gau has agreed to help develop a salary survey tool. This has been
a growing need as we discuss our national and local standing in salary
rankings. This survey hopes to address benefits and other intangibles
as well.
Insurance Reimbursement
Denise Link and Tyke Hanisch are currently working on this issue
I wish to thank everyone for attending and being a part of the meeting. We all are very busy and understand that not everyone is able to make it. Keeping track of the issues and the news is the first step to future involvement. Often there will be things that come up that everyone is able to help with to promote Nurse Practitioners. We hope you will step forward when you are able.
We hope to see everyone at the next meeting on January 15th, 2005 at ASU Community Services. We continue to offer teleconferencing to those who cannot afford the convenience of geographic proximity. Please contact me at ewidemark@earthlink.net for any further information, or if you are interested in teleconferencing at the next meeting.
Respectfully,
Erich Widemark, NP
President, Arizona Nurse Practitioner Council, Chapter 9
Arizona Nurses Association
Arizona NP Council Chapter 9 Meeting
Elections
Chapter 9 Membership
Teleconferencing
Membership and involvement
Continuing Education
ACNP Legislative Update
AANP Legislative Update
AzNA Legislative Update
Advertising Committee
Scholarships
Nurse Practitioner Week
--------------------------------------------
There was very informative discussion at the last AzNA NP Council Meeting which was held at the conclusion of the Nurse Practitioner Council Conference. Some of the items discussed are included below:
Elections:
Erich reviewed the roles of each of the board positions and called for
nominations from anyone who was present. Patti said she would post a call
for nominations formally on the CAZNAP list for people who were interested
to respond.
Chapter 9 membership:
It was noted that there are Nurse Practitioners who are members of AzNA
but not Chapter 9 or Chapter 10 membership. AzNA is pulling a list of
NP’s from the BON and comparing them to their membership list to find
those NP’s who have membership with other chapters so that we can encourage
them to join chapter 9. It is acceptable to belong to more than one chapter.
Teleconferencing:
The first teleconferencing effort at the last meeting was very successful
and only cost $51.36 for three hours. ASU now has software to teleconference
via the internet. We will look into utilizing this new technology at future
meetings, but will be able to use the conferencing feature as a backup
if needed.
Membership Involvement:
The group continued to discuss reasons why current members might not be
interested in participating actively with the group and asked for further
feedback. A proposition to offer CE’s during meetings to entice attendance
was suggested. There was a question as to whether those teleconferencing
would be able to participate in any CE activity offered. Another suggestion
was to have the meetings in conjunction with local conferences, such as
the meeting today. Yet another suggestion was to consider national advertising
for both the conference and meetings.
Continuing Education:
The group agreed that it would like to see educational programs/CE’s on
a regular basis such as monthly. These would not necessarily be associated
with our meetings but this could also be a possibility
ACNP Update:
Denise, our ACNP representative, reminded everyone that the next clinical
symposium is coming up in October and will be held in Philadelphia. Flyers
have been sent out.
She also reviewed the Medicare bill in which we were unable to get the
language changed to include NP’s in Part A, which would allow us to do
initial assessments, home health, and physical therapy. They are working
again to get this changed with the next pass.
AANP Update:
Angie stated that AANP is also working on the Medicare bill, and mentioned
that the medicare bill was tweaked regarding Hospice, so that now, even
though we can not do the initial admission H&P, we can now be attending
on Medicare patients in hospice.
AzNA Update:
Marla discussed the progress regarding the issue of NP’s ordering outpatient
diagnostic tests. She has met with the Arizona Hospital Association who
said they will partner with us to get this changed if this is a global
problem, but if there are only a few hospitals that we have this issue
with, they will not. Denise said she had data confirming that it is only
a few hospitals were giving us problems. Marla mentioned that this has
to do with clinical privileges and it has also been discussed with the
ANA. ANA has found that 75% of hospitals in the United States desire to
become magnet hospitals, and they have decided that part of the criteria
for these hospitals to do so, will be to allow NP’s to practice there
within the scope of the law.
Advertising Update:
Agi said he hopes everyone enjoys their new license plate holders and
that this is just the first of many strategies to promote the visibility
and the role of the NP to the general public.
Scholarships:
Chris was concerned that even though the scholarship announcement went
out in the newsletter and on CAZNAP she only got 4 responses. She therefore
extended the dates and got 4 more respondents, unfortunately, only 4 of
the 8 were AzNA members. She wanted ideas to get a better response in
the future. Denise felt that the announcements went out too late for her
students, as they were already gone for the summer by the time she got
them. It was decided to advertise earlier next year.
Nurse
Practitioner Week:
Ken is working on the NP Week dinner and volunteers to help were requested.
He will also be working on obtaining a proclamation signed by the Governor
to honor NP week.
Erich Widemark, MSN, RN, FNP
President, Arizona Nurse Practitioner Council Chapter 9
Arizona Nurses Association
Arizona NP Council Chapter 9 Meeting
Hospice of the Valley Medicaring Project
Teleconferencing
Membership and involvement
Bylaws Draft
Advertising Committee
Conference Update
AzNA Legislative Update
Conference Update
NP Diagnostic Ordering at Hospitals
Nurse Practitioner Advancement (DNP)
Conclusion
--------------------------------------------
Hospice of the Valley
Medicaring Project
Beth and Joan discussed a new project led by Hospice of the Valley that
focuses on the care of NON-hospice Medicare patients who have chronic
illnesses and require regular visits or calls by nurses, but are not eligible
for home care services. For further information on this project, email:
Beth Hale at BHale@hov.org
Teleconferencing
of AzNA Council meetings
I am happy to report that we experienced our first successful
teleconference with Northern Arizona. Thanks to the generosity of AzNA
for sharing their teleconference account, we were able, with some kinks,
to connect two Northern Arizona Members, who were able to fully participate
in the meeting. We wish to extend this to our October meeting (the May
meeting will be at the conference). Our goal will be to establish connections
at several different spots across the state, preferably at predefined
meeting spaces to reduce cost. It was agreed that the availability of
teleconferencing was an obligation that we had to our out of town members.
Membership and
involvement
We discussed the fact that out of the 1000+ NPs in the state,
our membership is only at about 160. Several attendees suggested reasons
for this including lack of communication other than email, and confusion
related to membership status. Based on this information, we agreed to
publish upcoming meeting information in the newsletter that is mailed
out. We also agreed to send a letter to statewide NPs advertising the
NP Council for membership. Furthermore we will do research concerning
possible members who are mistakenly with other chapters. Indeed, two of
the meeting goers were not listed on the Chapter 9 list, no wonder they
hadn't been getting the newsletter!! It had also come to our attention
that through our affiliation with AANP and ACNP, membership fees for these
organizations are partially covered by AzNA. There will be further information
to follow regarding this. Hopefully it will help reduce the fees that
we as NPs pay on a regular basis for professional groups.
Bylaws Draft
New bylaws were drafted by Ken Wysocki. We will be editing these
with the goal of voting on them at the May meeting.
Advertising Committee
A lot of excitement in advertising! Logo samples were passed
out. Although there was some discussion regarding the coloring of the
logos, it looks like we will soon have an updated AzNA NP Council logo!
Discussion ensued regarding bumper stickers. One attendee suggested that
bumper stickers are not used as much now as they had been in the past.
An excellent suggestion was to obtain license plate holders as an alternative
to those interested. Hopefully we will have advertising paraphernalia
by conference time and be able to offer it for a small donation to those
interested.
Conference Update
The conference is set for July 23, 24, and 25. The location
is the Sunburst Resort in Scottsdale. We are still in the process of obtaining
a keynote speaker. Potentials include the Governor or Deb Gullet. If anyone
has other suggestions or potentials please contact me at ewidemark@earthlink.net.
AzNA Legislative Update
Marla spoke on AzNA's current legislative action. The addendum
to the Human Services Bill which allows us to sign death certificates
after obtaining training is on the Governor's desk, and it is expected
to be signed this week. This was truly a massive accomplishment for AzNA.
If anything was well worth your dues this year, this was it. Because of
our financial support of AzNA, they have been able to continue fighting
for NPs.
NP Diagnostic Ordering
at Hospitals
An NP recently attempted to obtain a mammogram ordered by her
NP primary provider. This was refused at a hospital satellite outpatient
testing site because the NP signed the order and not the doctor. Eventually
the site agreed to perform the procedure by putting a physician partners
name on the order sheet. Unfortunately, the results of the testing went
to the physician and not the NP provider. This has opened up a potentially
significant issue regarding responsibility, ethics, and privacy when a
provider who did not order the test, and may not have seen the patient
receives the results of the test.
This issue was discussed at length at the meeting with many excellent suggestions. It was decided that informal dialogue should start with the Arizona Hospital Association regarding this issue. In addition, a campaign will be started to focus on hospital based diagnostic testing centers and their procedures and practices with NP ordering. Marla, Agi, and Denise have agreed to work on this issue, and more information will follow.
It was suggested that our successes seem to stem from the small issues that we decide to aggressively pursue. In addition it was recognized that the valuable partnership we have had with AzNA makes fighting these issues highly successful. This will be our next focus. The group at the meeting agreed that the importance of AzNA membership assists with this process, and encourages non-members to consider membership with AzNA.
Nurse Practitioner Advancement
(DNP)
Although this was not discussed at the meeting, I have prepared
some comments here. Everyone agrees that there is a lack of knowledge
and education concerning the role that NPs play in medicine. Although
some NPs agree that advancement to the doctoral level might be a good
idea, few of the 100,000 NPs in the US wish to return to school due to
the expense and the lack of potential increase in income. In addition,
many clinicians may agree that NPs have the proper education needed to
be primary providers, and therefore only need the continuing education
they receive on an ongoing basis, NOT further education towards a research
doctorate.
I propose that we consider abolishing the MSN degree level and modifying the curriculum to offer a DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice). This will allow us to carry the title "doctor" which will hopefully alleviate the confusion that the general public has with our educational level. I believe that this is a simple way of advancing our cause. This is not the total solution, and I don't advocate any misrepresentation on our part in passing us as medical doctors. I do think that it will put us on a level playing field with all other doctors at the bargaining table. It will alleviate much of the confusion regarding our level of education. And it will allow us to have a clinical degree that would be considered the highest clinical level to achieve.
Conclusion
Thanks to everyone for a successful April Arizona Nurse Practitioner
Council Meeting. The next one is in July at the summer conference, and
the following is October 16, 2004 at ASU Community Services Building room
330B. I hope to see (or hear) everyone at the next meeting. If you are
geographically removed from our meeting location and wish to organize
an outlying conference group to attend the next meeting, please email
me at ewidemark@earthlink.net. Feel free to send additional comments regarding
this document as well.
Erich Widemark, MSN, RN, FNP
President, Arizona Nurse Practitioner Council Chapter 9
Arizona Nurses Association